Highlights Milestone at Opening of New, State-Funded Children's Psychiatric Center at Montefiore Einstein in the Bronx
Significant Expansion Advances Governor's Commitment to Mental Health Resources
Governor Hochul today announced the opening of a new state-funded 21-bed inpatient psychiatric facility to serve youth at the New York City Children’s Center campus in the Bronx. Operated by Montefiore Medical Center with funding from the state, the 18,300-square-foot facility represents a unique collaboration to serve young people experiencing serious behavioral health issues and will bring the total inpatient capacity brought online by Governor Hochul to 1,000 beds statewide.
“We are committed to increasing options for families that need access to intensive behavioral health services and more importantly, to providing top-notch care to all children who experience serious mental illness,” Governor Hochul said. “Montefiore Einstein’s state-of-the-art Center for Children’s Mental Health represents the strong partnership we have with our community-based hospitals, and our ongoing commitment to providing the best possible care for our youth and support for their families.”Located at 1300 Waters Place, Montefiore Einstein’s new unit is on the Bronx campus of the New York City Children’s Center and includes 21 beds to serve youth between the ages of 5 and 17. The new center will provide intensive treatment for youth with serious behavioral health conditions, including severe depression, anxiety, trauma, suicidal thoughts, psychosis, and other acute psychiatric conditions.
Governor Hochul joined Office of Mental Health Commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan, Montefiore Einstein President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Philip O. Ozuah, Assemblymember Michael Benedetto and other local elected officials on a walkthrough of the new facility, including its classrooms and other treatment spaces. Following the viewing, Governor Hochul met with Joziah, a 12-year-old from Manhattan, who attended this short ribbon cutting ceremony with his mother, Courtney, to share their experiences with the mental health system.
With the inpatient capacity added by the center, Governor Hochul has now overseen the enhancement of 1,000 psychiatric inpatient beds statewide. Overall, there are 89 beds serving children in the Bronx, with the new capacity at Montefiore Einstein representing a nearly 31 percent increase in children’s inpatient beds for the borough.
The new center resulted from a $3.1 million capital grant from the state Office of Mental Health, $7 million from New York State’s Behavioral Health Centers of Excellence Fund, and a $6 million capital appropriation from Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Assemblymember Michael Benedetto. The project also received support from a private donation received by Montefiore Einstein and additional funding from state Attorney General Letitia James.
The center was developed with direct input from young patients and located in the borough specifically due to community need an estimated 21 percent of children between the ages of five and 17 living in the Bronx have a diagnosed behavioral health disorder. The new center will improve continuity of care for Bronx patients and outpatient treatment, develop a workforce pipeline for multidisciplinary staff to include social workers, nurses, psychologists, and psychiatrists, and offer enriched training for medical students and other health professionals.
The new center continues Governor Hochul’s strong record of investing in mental health services and supports for young New Yorkers. In addition to directing a substantial increase of inpatient capacity at state-operated psychiatric centers –the largest in decades –she has greatly expanded outpatient programs designed to help individuals during their recovery.
Governor Hochul’s nation-leading commitment to protect the mental health of young New Yorkers has resulted in major investments into youth services and supports. Her $1 billion mental health initiative and hundreds of millions of dollars in funding in subsequent budgets significantly expanded access to care for young people and their families –from increasing inpatient and residential treatment capacity to building community-based services designed to help youth remain at home and in their community.
OMH now funds 20 Youth Assertive Community Treatment teams, which provide youth and family therapy, medication management, family and peer support, and skill-building. The agency supports two Youth ACT teams in the Bronx, including one providing services to 36 youth and another that is in development.
Governor Hochul also expanded school-based mental health clinics, which help students get a licensed mental health care provider in a familiar stigma-free setting on their school campus. The state now supports 1,265 clinic satellites, including 50 now operating in schools in the Bronx.
OMH also now supports 55 Home Based Crisis Intervention teams, which serve youth between the ages of 5 and 20 and provide intensive individualized services to help families maintain young people recovering from mental illness in their own homes. There are two teams now operating in the Bronx that have collectively worked with 200 families so far this year.
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